


A Story of Love

by SunshineScorpius



Series: James Sirius Potter and His Disastrous Love Life [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Al and Scor tell the story of how they got together, Brotherly Bonding, Gen, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, James is a hopeless romantic, James is in awe, Lily is a blessing, M/M, Scorbus share one(1) chair, Scorpius and James have a lovely friendship, a lot of Potter sibling bonding, albus gives suprisingly good advice, its christmas - Freeform, post-CC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21649369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineScorpius/pseuds/SunshineScorpius
Summary: James Sirius Potter is a hopeless romantic who falls in love too easily. After his most recent heartbreak, James is feeling a little down. Leave it to his siblings and Scorpius to help cheer him up as Albus and Scorpius tell their very own story of love.
Relationships: Albus Severus Potter & James Sirius Potter, James Sirius Potter & Lily Luna Potter, Scorpius Malfoy & James Sirius Potter, Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Series: James Sirius Potter and His Disastrous Love Life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652107
Comments: 18
Kudos: 119





	A Story of Love

_I’m sorry, James. It’s not you, it’s me._

_Lexi._

James sighed as he crumpled up the piece of parchment in his hand and threw it at the bin – missing by inches. He resisted the urge to scream out, instead pretending like the lengthy letter of his current girlfriend dumping his ass three days before Christmas didn’t bother him at all. He looked around his room – or rather, his room that he had at the Burrow that he was currently sharing with his little brother, Albus and his boyfriend, Scorpius – and sighed again, rubbing his eyes behind his glasses.

Deciding not to dwell on anything and pretending like his heart hadn’t been ripped in two, James grabbed his pack of Exploding Snap cards and made his way down the rickety staircase to where his siblings were chilling in the living room. It was rare that the Burrow wasn’t bursting with people around this time of year, but the Potters had arrived a day earlier than everyone else. His mum and dad had taken his Gran and Grandpa out for lunch and a bit of late Christmas shopping, meaning James was left to take care of his younger siblings.

In the living room, Lily was sat in a bundle of blankets watching the movie intently on the small box television his grandparents refused to upgrade. Albus and Scorpius were sat on a single armchair, Scorpius in Albus’ lap and were talking quietly to each other. No doubt Scorpius was asking all sorts of questions about the movie, but trying to be quiet to not distract Lily. James flopped on the sofa beside Lily and sighed loudly, hoping someone would ask him what’s wrong.

No one did.

He sighed loudly again, putting a little whine into the noise and huffing through his nose. Again, no one said anything. With one final sigh, Albus groaned loudly, cutting Scorpius off, and peering around him to look at James.

“What're you crying about?” He asked.

“More like _who_ is he crying about,” Lily corrected, leaning forward to press pause on the movie. James thought he heard Scorpius protest a little but it was so quiet James decided he imagined it. There was a shuffling on Albus’ chair, where Scorpius dropped from his lap and instead squeezed next to him, their legs entwined and shoulders pressed together. Scorpius lay his head on Albus’ shoulder and James almost asked him what’s wrong – the blond looked incredibly tired.

Instead, he answered his brothers question. “Lexi broke up with me.”

There was a rather long silence and honestly, James couldn’t blame them. This wasn’t the first time this had happened.

James Sirius Potter wore his heart on his sleeve. He fell in love four times a day and he loved with every ounce of his being. But, he’s too much. His partners always say, _‘it’s not you, it’s me’,_ but at this point, it was very clearly _him._ Truth was he was a bit of a disaster when it came to love. His gestures were too big, his confessions too early on in the relationship. No matter what he did, people gave him up rather easily. But, not easily enough, because James was already in love by the time they did.

“Are you okay?” That was Scorpius, genuine concern in his voice. He looked at him and smiled softly, nodding his head.

Albus snorted. “Of course he’s okay, he’s used to it by now.”

“Don’t be so mean, Albus,” Scorpius scolded, slapping him lightly on the arm. Albus nudged him, before pulling Scorpius’ glasses off his face and putting them on himself, squinting dramatically before pushing the glasses into his hair. Scorpius rolled his eyes but never tried to take them back. They were usually only needed for reading, whereas James needed his all the time.

“Albus,” James said, grabbing his brothers’ attention. “How did you and Scorpius get together?”

Next to him, Lily snorted, but then flung her legs over James and settled in for a nice story. James unfolded the blanket that was flung over the arm of the chair and settled it over himself, snuggling into Lily and the two watched the other two boys in wonder.

“Just because I’m with Scorpius, doesn’t mean I know how I did it,” Albus said, raising his eyebrows. Scorpius laughed, burying his head in Albus shoulder and flushing a bright red.

“Come on, we don’t actually know how it happened,” James encouraged.

“Oh, you don’t want to know,” Scorpius said.

“Yes we do,” both James and Lily said in unison.

“Well, just know Albus doesn’t come out of the story too well.” Scorpius squeezed Albus’ sides, smiling widely at him. Albus flinched, grabbing Scorpius’ wrists to stop him from tickling him any further, but instead Scorpius leaned in and kissed him quickly on the lips. James smiled softly to himself, loving how happy Scorpius made his brother.

Albus was a jigsaw puzzle James had not yet solved. Without Scorpius, he was brooding and moody, often shutting himself away in his room and certainly never interacting with his family. He’d been better recently after the events of his fourth-year, but he still likes to keep himself to himself. Scorpius seems to bring out the best of him. He actually _smiled_ around Scorpius, and he laughed and seemed to enjoy being around him. That was the Albus James liked best. That was the Albus he wanted to see more often. The Albus he tried so hard to create.

“Okay, ew, guys, stop being mushy and start story-telling!” Lily exclaimed.

“Okay, okay!” Albus said, holding his hands up in surrender. “Picture this, fourth-year, two weeks before the summer holidays, Scorpius and I are sat down by the lake studying for our final exam.”

_“Will you stop stressing?” Albus said, nudging Scorpius slightly. The other boy blushed slightly before shaking his head, like the action could rid his cheeks of their flush. He buried his head further into his Care of Magical Creatures book, one of his quills balanced behind his ear. “Scorpius, come on, you’re going to smash this exam, you always do!”_

_“Well, I’m pretty sure I flunked Potions yesterday, which I need if I want to be a Healer, and you know how much I love Creatures class, I don’t want to have to give it up, and let’s not forget that if I do badly in these exams I think that will be the final straw with my dad after this year and I don’t want him to be angry with me anymore than he already is, as if I haven’t caused him enough stress this year anyway and-”_

_“Hey, hey,” Albus said, getting up and sitting opposite him, taking his wrists in his hands. “Your dad loves you, you know that. He’ll love you no matter what. And if you flunked Potions then I might as well have never sat it. You’re brilliant, Scorpius, when will you start believing that?”_

_Scorpius looked at Albus, seeing nothing but sincerity in his deep green eyes. He didn’t speak for a long time, so long that Albus was beginning to worry he’d turned him mute. Then he leaned in and kissed him._

_Scorpius Malfoy kissed him. His best friend kissed him. The boy who he’d go to the end of the Earth for, who’d he’d swim oceans for and climb the highest of mountains for was kissing him; on the lips. And Albus wasn’t kissing back. He couldn’t. His mind was whirring. He was frozen to his spot. And Scorpius noticed and pulled away before Albus could pull himself together and kiss him back, because he wanted to._

_Merlin, he wanted to so badly._

_But, it didn’t seem to matter what he wanted, because his mouth and legs wanted the complete opposite._

_“I- er, have to go. I’ll catch you later,” Albus heard himself saying as he gathered up his books and took off back up to the castle, leaving behind a very confused and heartbroken Scorpius._

“Wait, Albus,” James said, trying to hide his giggles. “Are you telling me that Scorpius kissed you, and your first reaction was to run away?” James couldn’t hold his giggles this time, and he and Lily burst into laughs together.

“It wasn’t the best move on my behalf,” Albus admitted sheepishly.

“But that’s the most Albus thing to do ever,” Lily giggled, forcing her way out of her blanket burrito and stretching her legs. “I need the toilet, do not continue without me!” She pointed to them all separately before waltzing out of the room.

“Do you want a hot chocolate, Lils?” James shouted after her. She yelled back an affirmative and James stood up, stretching his back as he asked Albus and Scorpius the same thing. Albus agreed but Scorpius stood up too and offered to help him. Once in the kitchen, Scorpius pulled out enough mugs for each of them out of the cupboard whilst James collected the milk, hot chocolate powder, cream and marshmallows.

Together, they made the hot chocolates, James heating the milk with his wand – proud of himself now he could use magic outside of school. Scorpius looked almost jealous as he watched him.

“Did you have a good birthday yesterday?” James asked. Scorpius arrived late to the Burrow with Albus as they’d spent Scorpius’ birthday at the Manor with his dad. When they arrived, they had a birthday cake ready and sat and played a few games before calling it a night. James thought Scorpius seemed rather happy and hoped the other boy had thoroughly enjoyed his day.

“I had a wonderful day, thank you,” he said, polite as ever, as he added the cream on top of the mugs that James had completed.

“Did Albus really run away from you?” James asked, trying to hide his laughter. Scorpius looked at him and smirked before nodding.

“I’ve never seen him move so fast,” he joked, stifling his own laughter. It was funny now, but James imagined it was rather hard for him at the time.

“What did you do?”

“I cried,” he admitted. “I sat down at the lake until curfew sobbing my heart out hoping he’d come back, but he never did. I thought I messed everything up, ruined our friendship forever. I was so close to flooing home and asking my dad to remove me from school.”

James started laughing even harder as they decorated the hot chocolates with marshmallows. “Bit dramatic, don’t you think?”

“Well, at fifteen everything feels like the end of the world, but now I’m sixteen I can see I was being dramatic.” Scorpius picked up the chocolate dust and followed James along the line of mugs.

“Yeah, that whole day of being sixteen has really changed you,” James joked, slightly nudging his shoulder.

“Watch it,” Scorpius chuckled as the chocolate dust flurried all over the counter.

“Don’t worry about it, mate,” James said, taking the dust from Scorpius’ hand and finishing the last two mugs off. “It could have been worse.” Just as Scorpius was about to ask how, James shook the dust in Scorpius’ face, chocolate brown dust colouring his pale face and creating dark constellations in his white hair. James nearly collapsed to the floor laughing, and in his momentary distraction he didn’t see Scorpius grab the whipped cream and squirt it towards him, covering his eyes and catching the tip of his hair.

James threatened the throw more dust but Scorpius back away quickly with his hands up. “Okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he giggled.

“I don’t believe you,” James said, slowly walking closer and grabbing the whipped cream Scorpius had put back on the counter.

“ALBUS!” He called. “AL, HELP!”

Because of the amusement in Scorpius’ tone, Albus didn’t turn up all guns blazing. Instead, he strolled to the door and leaned against it, folding his arms. “What is taking you both so long?”

James smile cheekily, holding the dust and cream behind his back. “We’re coming now, my dear brother.”

Albus flicked his eyes between them before rolling them and retreating back into the living room. James smirked at Scorpius before waving his wand, cleaning them both of the mess they made as well as the counter. Scorpius put the drinks on a tray whilst James grabbed some ginger nut biscuits and they went back into the living room, kitchen antics only half forgotten.

When they had settled back down, biscuits eaten and hot chocolates ready to be drunk, Albus and Scorpius went back into the story, Scorpius taking the lead this time.

“So, naturally, I was heartbroken and terrified that I’d lost my best friend. When I returned to the dorm room that evening, Albus was hiding behind his curtains.”

_Scorpius saw Albus’ curtains closed and tried to ignore the ache in his heart. He dropped his books onto his bed, regretting not using the last few hours to revise for his exam the following morning. Scorpius got ready for bed, ignoring his stomach that was punishing him for skipping dinner, hoping that by the time he was finished, Albus would realise he was back and want to talk to him._

_He didn't._

_Scorpius sniffed a little, trying to hide that he’d been crying all afternoon since he ruined his own life. In a broken voice he said, “Albus?”_

_Nothing._

_“Albus, please talk to me,” he begged._

_Nothing again._

_“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. You were just there and looking at me and I thought… never mind. I am sorry.”_

_There was nothing more to say and Albus wasn’t saying anything, so Scorpius climbed into bed and shut his curtains around him. He cast a silencing charm and cried himself to sleep. When he woke in the night from the same recurring nightmare, Albus never came to his aid like usual._

_He’d been alone before, he’d been lonely before. But before there were other factors. Before it was Albus’ dad stopping them, before it was Albus’ non-existence stopping them. Now, it was nothing but his own stupid actions and his (ex?)best friends stubbornness._

_Scorpius was out of the common room and in the Great Hall before Albus woke. He was out of the Great Hall before Albus arrived and he was outside the exam room before everyone. He wasn’t avoiding Albus, he was just trying to focus on his studies. Even though he couldn’t, because every footstep became Albus’, every laugh reminded him of Albus, everything was him. But Albus couldn’t have been further away from him._

_As the exam passed, Scorpius was half distracted by the black-haired boy a few rows in front of him, scribbling down and not once looking up at him. He completely ignored him, like he meant absolutely nothing. Like the last four years meant nothing._

_At the end of the exam, Scorpius waited outside for Albus to come out, determined to catch him and sort this out. He could go back to being friends – he’d take being Albus’ friend over nothing at all. He didn’t think he could live without him. He’d done that once, and it was the worst feeling in the world. He grabbed Albus’ arm as he tried to storm passed him, pulling him to a halt._

_“Albus, I’m sorry! I really am sorry, just please, please talk to me,” he begged and hated that he was begging, but he was desperate._

_Albus dropped his stance, looking up at him with vulnerable eyes. “Did you – mean it?”_

_“I- yes.”_

_Albus nodded his head. Scorpius was sure his heart was beating so loudly that Albus could hear it. He never spoke. And Scorpius could only assume that was a bad thing._

_“Friends?” Scorpius asked, giving Albus a chance to forget it ever happened. Albus looked at him with a soft smile and nodded._

_“Always.”_

“Things were a little awkward, but we were back to being friends and I promised myself I wouldn’t jeopardise that,” Scorpius was explaining. Albus was sat there looking incredibly guilty and he took Scorpius’ hand in his and lay on his shoulder. Their hot chocolates had all been drunk and abandoned on the coffee table.

Albus kissed his shoulder before turning to Lily and James. “Meanwhile, I was having an internal crisis. Summer came and I knew I loved him, but there was a part of me that was so terrified of telling him that I somehow pushed it aside all summer. Things went by like normal and we even spent some time at each other’s houses, but there was still a little tension.

“Then he showed up on the platform and was taller and more angled and he was always beautiful but now he was breathtaking. And in the compartment, he put his glasses on and I was gone. I knew he liked me, I just had to pick up the courage and tell him back and hope I hadn’t missed my chance.”

_Albus paced back and forth in the dorm room as he waited for Scorpius to finish his shower. They’d eaten all they possibly could at the feast and were ready to collapse in bed after a round of Wizard’s Chess – a tradition they’d made in their first year and since upheld. Scorpius emerged from the shower dressed in pyjamas and his hair still damp, falling in front of his eyes. He eyed Albus funnily as he put his towel in for washing._

_“Something up, Albus?”_

_“I messed up,” Albus spoke hastily, stepping forward with too many hand gestures. When he was nervous, his hands had a mind of their own._

_Scorpius chuckled. “What did you do now?”_

_“I rejected you.” Scorpius let out a gasp and the silence that followed was deafening. Albus didn’t blame him for the silence, it was probably the last thing he expected to come out of Albus’ mouth. “You kissed me and I ran, and then you apologised even though you meant it and even though I liked it. I was a fool and I was scared and you have every right to tell me I’m an idiot and that you don’t want to be with me anymore and I’d completely understand, but truth is I’ve liked you for a long time, the whole time, in fact and I really struggled to come to terms with it because liking you meant our friendship might be over and I couldn’t lose you.”_

_“Wait,” Scorpius said, shaking his head. “Are you telling me you like me?”_

_“In summary, yes.” Albus couldn’t breathe. Scorpius nodded slowly, clearly trying to process all of this._

_“So…?”_

_“So?” Albus questioned, unsure of what Scorpius meant._

_“What’re you gonna do about it?”_

_“Me?”_

_“I know you’re not as incredibly thick as you pretend to be, Albus. What are you going to do about it?”_

_Albus took a shaky breath and moved a few steps forward towards Scorpius, fiddling with his hands in front of him. He stopped just short of the taller boy, looking up and nearly gasping at how close they were now standing. He could feel the warmth of Scorpius’ breath tickling against his face. He slowly leaned up on his tiptoes, holding onto Scorpius’ waist to steady him._

_The other boy barely reacted until Albus slowly brought their lips together and Scorpius’ hands flew to his cheeks and their lips moved in sync. Albus tilted his head and deepened the kiss, holding Scorpius as close to him as possible and sincerely hoping he never had to let him go again. He was a fool, a stupid, stupid fool. But for some reason, Scorpius still liked him. For some reason, Scorpius still wanted him._

_As they pulled away slowly to catch their breath, Scorpius wrapped him in a hug._

_“I love you, Albus.”_

_For a moment, Albus weren’t sure whether to say it back. But he loved him too, and he was done with not being honest._

_“I love you.”_

“Awww!” Lily cooed at them. James and Lily were smiling wildly as Albus recalled the last of the story, unable to take his eyes away from Scorpius. James ruffled Lily’s hair, emitting a groaned giggle from her.

“Well, you two are sickening,” James spoke, winking at Albus. Albus rolled his eyes and if he was sitting anywhere near James, he would have shoved him hard too. James laughed at him as he gathered up their empty mugs and took them back into the kitchen, washing them up so their grandparents won’t come home to a full sink.

Albus followed him in, sitting on the counter and watching James as he worked. James looked at him questioningly but Albus only smiled softly. There was a short silence and James decided to work slowly whilst he waited for Albus to say what he came in here for. Sometimes, Albus just needed time to figure his words out.

“Jamie, are you really okay? About Lexi?” He asked, his voice soft. James had to admit it wasn’t what he expected Albus to say.

James shrugged. “I’ll be okay. It’s a little gutting and I have no idea what to do with her Christmas present, but I’ll be okay.”

“You bought her a present? Weren’t you together for like three weeks?” James nodded, solemnly. “You fall in love far too easily James, and I think as your little brother, I need to wrap your heart in bubble wrap. You can borrow some off Scorpius, I got him some for Christmas so maybe he’ll stop accidentally bruising himself whenever he walks into a table, or a chair, or a lamppost and apologises to it.”

James smiled. His little brother could always cheer him up. James finished the washing up and dried his hands as Albus jumped down from the counter and opened his arms.

“Come on, before I change my mind,” he said, trying but failing to hide his distaste for hugging. James smiled widely and tackled his little brother. Albus buried himself in James’ chest, tightening his arms around his waist. It was the tightest Albus had hugged him since they were children and James let himself hold on a beat longer than he normally would. “Okay, that’s enough,” Albus said, wrestling out of James’ grip.

“Al?” James said, catching Albus just before he was about to disappear back into the living room. “You told Scorpius you loved him straight away?”

Albus shuffled awkwardly on his feet. James knew this was something he struggled to talk about. He wasn’t like James; he didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve. Albus was guarded, these four icy walls around his heart, open only for the blond-haired ball of sunshine in the other room. James almost regretted asking before Albus looked back up at him.

“I did.” He took a couple of steps back to James. “It’s him; it’s always going to be him.”

“How do you know?”

Albus shrugged. “I just do. And you will too. One day, you’ll feel a love that is different to every other feeling you’ve felt so far, and that person will appreciate you for all of your hopeless romantic ways, your stupidly big gestures and your ability to fall in love with a single look. Lexi wasn’t that person, but they’re waiting for you.”

“You believe that?”

“James, I’ve only ever met one person more deserving of love than you, and that’s Scorpius. So, yes, I believe it.”

James couldn’t help himself, he pulled his little brother back into a big hug and crushed him with his arms. Albus groaned against him and tried to wrestle himself out, but James was bigger and stronger. Eventually, he relented, wrapping his arms around James and accepting the hug.

The two brothers eventually returned to the living room, where Lily had snuggled back into her blankets with her hair now suspiciously in two French plaits. Scorpius made grabbing motions at Albus, who fell into Scorpius’ lap and kissed him gently on the forehead. James smiled at them and marvelled at their ability to feel like the only two people in the world. He sat back next to Lily, who spread her legs over him once again and pressed play on the film they’d long forgotten about. Scorpius took his glasses back from Albus’ hair and put them on.

James barely watched the end of the film, instead he watched his little brother. He was proud of Albus and proud that he’d found a love so strong that he knew it was for life at fifteen years old. James thought he’d been in love before, but truthfully, he’d never found anyone who he looked at like Albus and Scorpius looked at each other. He’d never found anyone he wanted to be around all the time. He never found anyone who he wanted more than life itself. He thought he had, but he hadn’t. That person was still waiting for him, and from now on, James would take his time in finding them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy (my goal is to make you all love Jsp as much as me, so I hope I succeeded).  
> All kudos and comments wonderfully appreciated!  
> Twitter: @sunshinescorp


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